FAQ

Our firm charges fees differently based on the type of case. Corporate matters typically are billed on an hourly basis, while creation of legal entities can sometimes be billed on a flat-fee basis. Estate planning and trust matters typically are billed on a flat-fee basis, while more complex tax matters are billed on an hourly basis. Personal injury matters are always billed on a contingency basis.

We do not handle litigation cases except for catastrophic personal injury matters resulting in death or great bodily injury. Otherwise, all our cases are transactional matters.

If there is a matter we believe we can assist you with, we may advise to set up a complementary 15-minute meet and greet call. The purpose of the call is to see if we will be a good match for one another, gather information about your case to see if we can add value, and answer questions related to fees and costs. We do not offer legal advice until you are a retained client and there is an attorney-client relationship established.

For legal malpractice reasons, our firm does not make any amendments to trusts or estate planning documents drafted by another attorney or law firm. However, we do create restatements, which means that we would create a new trust (and estate plan) but would keep the same date and name of your trust, while incorporating new changes needed. This prevents you from having to retitle any assets already titled in your trust. Thus, for very minor amendments, it is usually more cost-effective to go back to the original drafting attorney.

Documents like a Will, Power of Attorney, Healthcare Directive, and HIPAA Authorization, are all part of a comprehensive estate plan that we create for our clients. However, we do not draft individual standalone documents unless we are creating the entire estate plan.

This is like asking how much does a car cost. The cost of an estate plan depends on many different factors such as whether you have minor children, whether you need any estate tax planning, whether you want to provide asset or divorce protection for your beneficiaries, whether you have multiple properties or businesses that need to be funded into your trust. Typically, our revocable estate plans range between $3,000-$7,000, while our irrevocable trusts range from $7,500-$25,000. Our estate plans include a Revocable Living Trust, Pour-Over Will, Powers of Attorney, Healthcare Directive, HIPAA Authorization, and Guardianship Documents (if you have any minor children). Each plan is customizable to your family’s needs.

The first step is to call our office and have one of our team members do a brief intake with you and then schedule you for a one-hour consultation with one of our attorneys. This initial consultation can be held in-office, by phone, or by Zoom. After you meet with the attorney, we’ll send you an engagement letter for you to sign where we will list out your pricing. After that, our Client Services Director will walk you through the process of creating the estate plan by customizing each role in your plan and gathering the information needed to draft the documents. The length of time it takes to finish your plan depends on how quickly we can get the information from you, but typically takes anywhere from 1-3 weeks for most clients following the initial consultation.

The old adage of “you get what you pay for”, is very true here. A good corporate attorney is not being paid to simply provide a form. Our job is being able to understand the specifics of your deal, anticipate any issues, discuss them and then draft accordingly. A free or low cost online service is in the volume business, is not a law firm and provides fill in the blank basic templates with no context to the transaction at hand. An agreement drafted by a corporate attorney is like a good insurance policy in the event of a dispute or litigation.

Our corporate team provides a unique offering to you. We are relied on by clients across the world and advise global accounting firms, private equity firms as well as the local ‘mom and pop’ business, because we have lived and worked around the world, and we understand what it really means to have cultural quotient. We bring our global knowledge to every transaction, no matter how large or small and where others see barriers, we build solutions.

We are a ‘soup to nuts’ transactional team. From inception to exit, we can advise your business from the basics of entity choice, to the complex mergers and acquisitions, financing, securities regulation, partnership and joint venture agreements, real estate syndications to FinTech.

If a corporation is the chosen entity, the ‘basic’ steps are to choose the state of incorporation, file electronic articles of incorporation with the appropriate secretary of state, obtain an EIN number from the IRS and file any appropriate tax election, create by-laws, have an initial meeting of the founders/incorporators to adopt the by-laws, approve and adopt pre-incorporation actions, elect the board, appoint officers, distribute shares, file appropriate Blue Sky exemptions, allocate responsibilities, create and open bank accounts, obtain and recognize ownership contributions, create and execute a shareholder agreement and other appropriate documents (such as NDAs, non-competes, assignment of IP, employment agreements, etc.) and begin operations. Remember this started with an ‘If’. The first question to answer is what is the right entity for mine or our situation.

Let’s talk! We will be happy to have an initial conversation to discuss the project and what billing is going to be best for that. For many matters, we may be able to provide a fixed or flat fee, which means that no matter how long it takes us to complete the project, you only pay one fee. This can be very appealing to entrepreneurs and startups on a tight budget. Other matters may be more appropriately billed on an hourly basis — in which case, we will give you an estimate up-front so there are no unwelcome surprises at the end of a billing month. This is a relationship, and our goal is to ensure you are happy.